[fuckyeahmalazans]

A  song  about  Darujhistan.  Give  us  more!

[dark5light]

“A man who stirs awake the serpent is a man without fear. A man without fear has forgotten the rules of life.”

— Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

[solaice]

One of the most hated character first time, seriously. My first impression was feeling like I read about the biggest MS ever, written by obsessed Forgotten Realms fan.

But then I changed my mind. 

That ending. 

Also, fuck my winter exams. 

[dunsparr0w]

"Apologies with caveats are worthless, you know."

-Sister Spite, Toll the Hounds

[fuckyeahmalazans]

Steven Erikson's insanity!

SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS   SPOILERS

REAPER’S  GALE  SPOILERS     /     TOLL  THE  HOUNDS  SPOILERS

BEWARE  SPOILERS     BEWARE  SPOILERS Let’s  focus  on  two  scenes.  The  first  is  from  Reaper’s  Gale  and  the  second’s from  Toll  the  Hounds. 1)Reaper’s  Gale–>Seren  Pedac’s  chitchat  with  Mockra.  A  character  has  an  interesting  conversation  with  a  warren.  With  a  magic  system.  Not  with  an  animal,  or  a  tree,  or  a  bottle  of  beer.  She  conversates  with   a  damn…I  don’t  know…energy?  Magical  world  of  peoples’  thoughts?  Her  own  mind? And  it’s  not  her  imagination.  Chapters  later  she  mind-beats  Clip  into  a  bloody  pulp.  Who  else  can  imagine,think,  write  and  execute  in  paper  such  a  conversation?   It’s  like  a  Jedi  speaking  with  the  Force  (not  just  sensing  things  and  stuff,  but  actually  talk  with  about  the  contents  of  a  magazine).  It’s  like  a  Dragonlance  mage  speaks  with  the  moon  from  which  it  draws  power. Is  there  anything  like  it  in  some  other  book?  You  have  to  be  extremely  open-minded  (for  a  start)  in  order  to  come  up  with  something  like  that. 2)Toll  the  Hounds–>Kadaspala'a  ritual.      The  Tiste  Andii’s  spell  isn’t  just  the  muttering  of  some  words  and  the  waving  of  his  hands  in  a  specific  manner.  That  blind  lunatic  had  inscribed  upon  flesh  the  name  of  every  god,  godling,  ascendant,  spirit  that  ever  existed.  We  speak  of  billions  of  names  here.  And  not  only  that.  He  had  created  words  which  consist  of  words,  letters  that  their  parts  are  not  straight  lines  but  other  words  and  so  on.  The  scope  is  beyond  imagination. This  is  not  mere  spell-creation.  This  extends  to  origins-of-languages,  philosophy,  arithmology,  evolution  and  so  on. The  above  examples  show  what  a  fantasy  fiction  book/story  is  capable  of. The  possibilities  are  endless,  restrained  only  by  imagination.  And  me  Erikson proves  time  and  again  that  his  imagination  is  maddeningly  vast.  Thank  God!

[elan-morin-tedronai]

The end of Toll the Hounds, from the point where Hood manifests in Darujhistan, it’s just like [incoherent screaming].

Also, maybe the most chaotic convergence so far? I’m not sure I can even remember everything that crashed into Darujhistan and I just finished the bloody book. Let’s see,

Hounds of Shadow

Hounds of Light

Lady Envy & Sister Spite

Hood

Karsa Orlong

Dassem Ultor

Anomander Rake

a fucking random-ass bear god (???)

Tulas Shorn

Shadowthrone & Cotillion (though they didn’t participate much)

Caladan Brood (as above)

and also nearby,

High King Kallor

Spinnock Durav

Korlat & Orfantal

Honestly? Darujhistan is lucky to be still standing… in a manner of speaking. (I mean, a lot of it isn’t, but, you know.)

[spader7]

commission for @annabellarake

very happy with how this turned out!

[first-and-last-neocount]

The real cinnamon roll of the Malazan world.

[blazemalefica]

Anomander Rake, Soletaken form.

[i-laugh-all-the-way-to-hell]

by Autumn Tavern.

[beakofcandles]

Okay but Anomander Rake though.

-> If anyone else had carried Dragnipur, they’d be curled up on the floor crying. He stands straight. Unbowed.

-> He’s the only one who could beat Draconus and take the sword from him (though I mean, there’s a lot of speculation about Draconus, but anyways. That’s beside the point).

-> The one Tiste Andii who decides to get his people out of Kharkanas and Kurald Galain, because he actually knows that stuff needs to change; stagnation is never a good thing.

-> He carried the burden of his people’s faith in him for centuries. Without complaint.

-> He wanted to stop Whiskeyjack from killing the Mothers of the Dead Seed out of compassion. Because he didn’t want him to carry the guilt of killing in cold blood.

-> He engineered the whole scenario with getting himself killed in order to destroy Dragnipur and get Mother Dark to turn her face back to her children.

-> He’s got a dragon lover. I mean, heck yes.

-> He is a dragon. Soletaken, but still got blood of the Eleint. And he doesn’t let it control him.

And this is seriously just barely brushing the surface of this guy.

[fisherkeltath]

Let me just add -and this is still me-

-> Dude was a golden-skinned blond or something back before the split of light and dark and stuff. Turns out black-skinned with quicksilver hair afterwards and looks no less bloody attractive. Yes this is superficial, no I don’t care. Guy’s a freaking supermodel and he knows it.

[elan-morin-tedronai]

I often see people criticise the way romantic relationships are done in Malazan, but somehow I’ve always enjoyed most of them. I wish I could properly articulate why… but I’ll try.

Keep reading

[zsoszy]

Rallick and Murillio sketch after finishing the ‘Toll the Hounds’.

[toctheyounger]

“Toll the Hounds” Subterranean Press Edition (Illustrations by Marc Simonetti)

[thehardkandy]

Anomander Rake is a fucking Cinnamon Roll and that makes this all so much harder.

I’m done Toll the Hounds and can I get just one book where the end doesn’t make me die a little, too?

[smokingchagga]

Rage and tell me then

Not every tale is a gift

When anguish gives the knife

One more twist

And blood is thinned by tears

Cry out the injustice

Not every tale is a gift

In a world harsh with strife

Leaving us bereft

Deeds paling through the years

And I will meet your eye

Neither flinching nor shy

As I fold death inside life

And face you down

With a host of mortal fears

And I will say then

Every tale is a gift

And the scars borne by us both

Are easily missed

In the distance between us

Bard’s Curse

Fisher kel Tath

(Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson)

[chloristoflora]

Anomander Rake was interred in darkness. Weaponless, accompanied by no gifts, no wealth, no treasured possessions. His flesh was not treated against the ravages of decay. The blood and gore covering his face was not even washed away. None of these gestures belonged to the Tiste Andii, for whom the soul's departure leaves the flesh blind, insensate and indifferent.

Dying delivers one into the river of darkness, that passes into and out of the ruined city of Kharkanas, the womb long dead, long abandoned. Into the river, and the river must travel on, ever on.

Caladan Brood sealed the barrow, and upon the capstone of bleached dolomite he set a symbol, carved deep into the stone's face. An ancient Barghast glyph, its meaning precise and yet a thing of countless layers – although this is known only to those who in life come to face it directly.

A single Barghast glyph.

Which said Grief.

Toll the Hounds, by Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #8)

[pansen1802]

Under the mountain.